The Junkyard of Destiny - Pt 3
In the end, Zoë couldn't chase away Bianca and Grover, who were trying to help treat her wounds. Fortunately, the nectar and ambrosia helped a lot. Even so, it would still take some more time for her to fully recover.
Watching her from a distance, Percy could make out the holes in her bloodstained clothes.
They were small, circular holes, and slightly burned around the edges. And remembering how Luke's allies had upgraded their weapons, it wasn't hard to connect them to bullet wounds.
"Fine. Just take her and let's get out of here," Percy said in an annoyed tone. Even more annoyed than before.
"Percy, she's hurt," Grover immediately added, looking at his friend and shaking his head.
"She won't be able to move like this. Maybe it'd be better if we stay here until dawn. She'll probably be feeling better by then," Bianca added.
"What are you talking about?" Zoë said, looking at them with disdain. "Why would I go with you? I have something I need to do," she immediately said.
Percy ignored Zoë's complaints.
Since he had already accepted Apollo's mission, he would finish it anyway. Even if he had to put up with having this woman around.
But he really did seem eager to leave this place.
"We can just carry her. Didn't Grover say he was worried about the other things nearby? Besides, whoever did that to this one..." Percy said with disdain while giving Zoë a crude look, "should probably be looking for her. Maybe she got involved with some mafia guys or something."
"What did you say, brute?!" she immediately shouted while grabbing her bow by reflex and even pulling out an arrow.
But Percy instantly drew his black sword as well.
"Enough," Thalia immediately said, interrupting them.
She couldn't help looking at Percy with the feeling that something about him seemed strange. He kept looking at Bianca's head.
Even so, even though she also disliked Zoë, the Hunter was injured after all. And everyone was pretty exhausted from the trip.
"How about we stay until dawn? It's really dark out there right now. That could put us in even more danger if we're carrying someone who's wounded. Unless there's something we should be worried about," Thalia told Percy, staring directly into his eyes for several seconds.
Percy stared back at her and seemed to hesitate for just a moment.
Before letting out an annoyed click of his tongue.
"No. There's nothing to worry about while I'm here," he said before giving Zoë another irritated look, putting his sword back into his magic bag, and walking away.
"Why are you all deciding for me? Are you even listening to me? I'm not going anywhere with you," Zoë complained.
But Thalia didn't pay much attention to her either, giving her only a brief glance before walking away as well, leaving Grover and Bianca in charge of helping the annoying Hunter of Artemis.
...
As Percy moved a little farther away from the group, his gaze seemed to scan every nearby detail as if he were prepared for any enemy attack.
His hand rested on his magic bag, ready to pull out Riptide or his black sword in an instant.
"What are you looking for, dear?" a soft voice suddenly said, reaching Percy's ears as if someone had blown directly on his earlobe.
Percy, who had been caught off guard despite being so alert, immediately turned around while slipping his hand into his bag to pull out one of his swords and attack without hesitation.
But the moment he turned and saw the person who had somehow appeared beside him, he froze for a moment.
Standing there was the most beautiful woman Percy had ever seen in his entire life.
A woman who could rival that chained woman he had encountered during his quest in the Sea of Monsters.
Curly hair.
Makeup that, rather than enhancing her beauty, seemed to diminish it slightly. Because it was impossible to ruin such a perfect face.
Even when Percy looked directly at her face, he felt like he couldn't quite make out every detail of it.
She wore a red evening dress that fit her body as if she were about to go hunting.
In... another sense.
He even felt she looked a lot like someone familiar.
Very familiar.
So familiar that he seemed to realize something he had never paid attention to before when looking at her.
Leaving him so stunned he couldn't seem to form words.
"How adorable," the woman said with an amused smile, delighted that she had charmed the young man, as if that were her greatest source of pride as a beautiful woman. "Hold this for a moment, please," she said while tossing him a large mirror that, even in the middle of the night, seemed to shine brightly enough to perfectly show anyone their reflection.
Percy caught it.
But at the same time, he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
And the spell that had left him stunned just from looking at the woman in front of him seemed to vanish.
He looked at the woman again, who was now calmly touching up her lips and adjusting her makeup.
"I'd guess Aphrodite," Percy said easily.
"Pin pon," Aphrodite said as she raised one finger and lightly pressed it against the tip of Percy's nose, as if he had gotten the right answer on a quiz or something. She even gave him a charming smile.
"Looks like you have pretty good mental resistance. Normally people can't even form words for minutes, sometimes hours, after seeing me. Almost makes me want to make you mine," she added charmingly.
But that charm vanished when she looked at her reflection for a moment.
Then she lifted the mirror Percy was holding a little higher and noticed a tiny imperfect smear of mascara on one of her eyelashes, something nobody else would've ever noticed.
But apparently she did.
And immediately started fixing it.
"So, what does the goddess of love need from me?" Percy asked, not sounding particularly enthusiastic.
He had already run into three gods and he hadn't even gotten very far into his trial.
Which made him wonder what else he was going to run into later.
"You keep pretending to be clueless," she said with a smile that seemed to shine even brighter than the stars in the sky. "You don't care about the trial or the danger everyone might face. Not even finding... Artemis," she added with a trace of disdain when mentioning the goddess of the hunt. "You said it yourself, Percy. That you'd burn Olympus if it was for her," Aphrodite added dreamily.
Percy immediately frowned, because he had said that once in the past.
But there shouldn't have been anyone nearby to hear it. Only one person.
"Oh, don't worry about that," the goddess said as if she had noticed Percy's expression. "I always love watching two lovebirds at the beginning of a romance. It's like my Tuesday novel," she added as if spying on people for fun didn't bother her in the slightest.
"Since when?" Percy couldn't help asking.
"Mmm..." She placed a finger against her lips while thinking and trying to remember. "Since that broadcast in Waterland. You two really attracted a lot of attention. And after that, I just couldn't stop watching," she added mischievously. "Don't worry, I completely support you two. How could I not? Two children of two lifelong enemies. Not only that, the protagonist of a story who, in order to break his destiny, agrees to become the disciple of a god from another plane. even willing to completely change his existence to gain the power needed to protect the people he loves. What could that be if not a great story?" she said.
Percy was confused for a moment by the part about completely changing his existence and felt like asking about it.
But Aphrodite continued.
"That's why I made sure to put plenty of fun in your path. To make things more interesting. To the point that even I don't know who you'll end up with now. Maybe even all of them," she said excitedly. "Let Olympus burn," she added.
At this point she sounded even more warlike than Ares himself.
"Well, well, I'm running late for my date. Ever since that fool Ares has been completely lost, I've had to fill my... arms with someone else's warmth. You'd better be careful at my husband's scrapyard, Percy. He's very particular about people touching his things," the goddess said with another smile.
Hearing that, Percy frowned and turned around to look at the mountains of scrap behind him, as well as Gila Claw.
Then he turned back to ask Aphrodite something.
But when he did, she had already disappeared.
As if she had never been there at all.
And if not for the floral perfume still lingering in the air, even he would've thought it had all been an illusion.
Immediately, his expression became more serious as he remembered Aphrodite's words.
And his steps grew faster as he approached the ruined house where the others had remained.
The moment he entered the center of the house, a campfire built from wood torn from the walls that were barely still standing.
And only Grover and Zoë were there, sitting in a rather heavy silence.
As if the satyr didn't know how to talk to her and she had no desire whatsoever to make new friends.
"Where are Thalia and Bianca?" Percy immediately asked, frowning even more.
"Percy, where were you? We went looking for you a little while ago and you'd disappeared," Grover said.
"Where are they?" Percy asked again, more seriously this time.
"Well, we were about to make something to eat. So Bianca went to look for you and Thalia. I think she went that way," Grover said after seeing the serious look on Percy's face as he stood up and pointed directly toward the largest mountain of scrap in the area.
Percy looked where Grover was pointing.
And right at that moment a sudden tremor shook the little town.
While the mountain of scrap Grover had pointed at seemed to begin moving.
As if something...
Or someone...
Was starting to crawl out from beneath it.
"Shit," Percy immediately said.
And without hesitating, he ran in that direction.